"Dear guests, the upcoming match will be held in the Golden Hall. In a moment, someone will come to lead the two participants inside. As for the accompanying personnel, they can only rest here for a while."
Huo Yuhao listened to the waiter's words and raised his head to look around.
He didn't know what kind of arrangements had been made here, but the spiritual detection was greatly blocked. Even with his spiritual power, it was difficult to see anything outside the room.
"We understand."
"Very well." The waiter nodded. "There is still some time before the official start of the competition. Please allow me to explain the rules of the Soul Engineer Tournament once again."
"This tournament is jointly organized by our Duskwater Alliance and the other two major organizations. No matter where the contestants come from, only those representing one of the three major forces can participate in the final competition."
"And here, the last two remaining contestants will become the representatives of the Duskwater Alliance."
"Two?" Huo Yuhao looked at the waiter with some surprise. "But I heard that in the final competition, each force will send three contestants."
"I'm afraid I don't know about that." The waiter kept smiling. "This is the boss's decision."
As the waiter spoke, the door to Huo Yuhao's room opened again, and a middle-aged man walked in from outside.
"Good evening, everyone. I am Chen An, the person in charge here. Please follow me to the competition area to take your positions."
Seeing that the person in charge had arrived, Huo Yuhao didn't ask any more questions. He stood up and followed.
"Also, if any of you wish to place bets, please follow me to the special registration area downstairs."
"But it's just betting, do they really have to make it so formal?" He Caitou tilted his head slightly and spoke to Huo Yuhao in a lowered voice.
However, his voice still reached Chen An's ears.
"Dear guest, you jest. Our boss has specially instructed us that no matter what kind of business it is, big or small, as long as it involves gold soul coins, there is no such thing as unimportant."
"Therefore, before placing bets, we will record the guest's information. Apart from the necessary handling fees, we guarantee that every single gold soul coin will be delivered to you without missing a cent."
Hearing this, Huo Yuhao and the others exchanged glances, somewhat surprised that these underground forces actually followed such "principles."
Seeing that his private conversation with Huo Yuhao had been overheard by Chen An, He Caitou worried that more words would lead to mistakes, so he stopped talking. The group quietly followed Chen An as they took the elevator down to the underground hall.
For the Soul Engineer Tournament, special preparations had been made here. Above was a circular dome, and around the hall were suspended private rooms.
In the very center of the hall, dozens of metal tables were arranged on a circular platform. Around the platform, rows upon rows of gem-blue velvet chairs were already filled with people.
These spectators, who were accustomed to watching bloody fights in underground arenas, were now also quite interested in watching this different kind of competition, thinking about how they should place their bets later.
"Wait a moment."
Just as they continued approaching the arena, two men dressed similarly to Chen An stopped Wang Dong.
"Contestants may enter. Others, please wait outside."
One of the men looked at Wang Dong with an unfriendly expression. "If you want to bet, do it now."
Wang Dong raised an eyebrow, about to speak, but was stopped by a wave of Huo Yuhao's hand.
"Little Dong, you go place the bet first. Just bet that both of us will advance."
"There is no such betting option." The man said indifferently. "This is only the qualifying round. What you call 'advancing' must be completed; you cannot participate in the subsequent matches."
Huo Yuhao was slightly stunned. "You never mentioned this before."
"The rules for contestants and spectators are naturally different. Otherwise, if you bet that you won't advance and then deliberately lose, wouldn't you just be coming here to make free money?"
"You—"
Wang Dong's expression turned ugly, but Huo Yuhao interrupted him again.
"Fine, we'll bet as you say."
As he spoke, his face still carried a smile, but a trace of coldness had already appeared in his eyes. The man's earlier unfriendly action when stopping Wang Dong, and now this overbearing attitude, had already caused Huo Yuhao to form a plan in his heart.
"But sir, I hope you dare to stay here the whole time. I'm a very petty person. If you cause me to lose money, I will make you pay with your life."
The man was slightly stunned upon hearing this, but quickly returned to normal.
"This is the Duskwater Alliance. As long as you have the ability, what is my worthless life worth?"
"This kid is quite to my liking."
From one of the suspended rooms, the Dark Lightning Douluo suddenly spoke, causing Lin Xiao beside him to turn his head and look over.
"Didn't you see? Right there." The Dark Lightning Douluo said while pointing downward.
Lin Xiao looked at Huo Yuhao and He Caitou, who were waiting for the match to begin, and gave a light nod.
Of course, he had noticed. From the moment they entered the underground hall, he had already seen them. Although they had made some disguises, he recognized who they were at a glance.
The Dark Lightning Douluo didn't know what Lin Xiao was thinking. He just smiled somewhat smugly.
"Old Eight, do you believe me or not? That 'Tang Wu' really has killing intent in his heart."
"Such decisiveness in killing, even some disciples in the church cannot achieve it. If there is a chance, it wouldn't be bad to let him join the Holy Church."
Lin Xiao shook his head without making any comment.
The Dark Lightning Douluo was about to say more when he suddenly froze. He exchanged a glance with Lin Xiao.
"Third Brother, you stay here and watch. I'll go outside to take a look."
"Alright. Go quickly and come back quickly."
The Dark Lightning Douluo withdrew his smile, his expression turning serious as he nodded.
In the next instant, Lin Xiao disappeared from his sight.
The Dark Lightning Douluo was stunned for a moment, then looked toward the platform below again. However, his gaze was not on those metal tables, and no one knew what he was thinking.
On the other side, Lin Xiao had already appeared outside the stronghold. Standing on the roof, he looked around and spoke softly:
"Since Your Excellency is interested in this place, why not come in and take a look, instead of sneaking around?"
As he spoke, his gaze fell toward a patch of shadow nearby.
Just now, he and the Dark Lightning Douluo had sensed the presence of another Titled Douluo, which was why he had come out. Although he hadn't seen the person, Lin Xiao had already locked onto their location.
Seeing that he had been exposed, the figure in the shadows no longer hid. They rose into the air, their entire body covered by a black cloak, revealing only a pair of eyes.
"Who are you?"
The person looked at Lin Xiao in front of them, their tone full of vigilance. According to their intelligence, there shouldn't be such a Titled Douluo in the Sun Moon Empire.
"Since Your Excellency is interested in me, why not come in and have a chat?"
Lin Xiao, however, had no intention of answering. With a thought, several illusory shadows emerged from his body and shot out in all directions.
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